On 8/1/2013 8:38 AM, Chris Dickinson wrote: > Martin Brown wrote: > > >> I have a few like this in a family of brewers - who perhaps lived longer >> because they *didn't* drink the water! It has to be partly genetic since >> it seems to be that extreme longevity runs in families. > > > Though you could also argue that a family of brewers was likely to live in a place that had access to clean water. > > > <snip> >> ISTR they had a daily beer allowance of 12 pints for hot working >> at the furnace hearth (OK it was watery beer). > > > We should really, as genealogists and historians, be more aware that a large proportion of our ancestors were probably pissed or stoned most of the time. > > > Chris > We should also be aware that our ancestors may have lived lives that we were brought up to believe were quite scandalous. We should also remember that that scandalous behavior may be the reasons there are some people in our family trees that we can find nothing about. There was a time when a relative was living a scandalous life, were not talked about in family gatherings, in fact may have been purged from the family.

On 01/08/2013 13:47, Keith Nuttle wrote: > On 8/1/2013 8:38 AM, Chris Dickinson wrote: >> Martin Brown wrote: >> >> >>> I have a few like this in a family of brewers - who perhaps lived longer >>> because they *didn't* drink the water! It has to be partly genetic since >>> it seems to be that extreme longevity runs in families. >> >> >> Though you could also argue that a family of brewers was likely to >> live in a place that had access to clean water. >> >> >> <snip> >>> ISTR they had a daily beer allowance of 12 pints for hot working >>> at the furnace hearth (OK it was watery beer). >> >> >> We should really, as genealogists and historians, be more aware that a >> large proportion of our ancestors were probably pissed or stoned most >> of the time. > >> >> Chris >> > We should also be aware that our ancestors may have lived lives that we > were brought up to believe were quite scandalous. We should also > remember that that scandalous behavior may be the reasons there are some > people in our family trees that we can find nothing about. You can usually find births deaths and marriages post 1837 even with a wall of silence since the census data provides a lot of good clues. > > There was a time when a relative was living a scandalous life, were not > talked about in family gatherings, in fact may have been purged from the > family. Typically "marrying a Catholic" and as recently as the 1920's too. I have one where the bride's father is declared as "deceased" on her Wedding certificate but he pops up again alive and well at a later siblings wedding. There is no doubt as to why they were disowned. -- Regards, Martin Brown